An experimental study has been conducted to measure the local film-cooling effectiveness and the heat transfer coefficient for a single row of rectangular-shaped holes. four different cooling hole shapes such ai a straight rectangular hole, a rectangular hole with laterally expanded exit, a circular hole and a two-dimensional slot are tested. A technique using thermochromic liquid crystals determine adiabatic film cooling effectiveness values and heat transfer coefficients on the test surface. Both film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient are measured for various blowing rates and compared with the results of the cylindrical ho1es and the two-dimensional slot. The flow patterns downstream of holes are calculated numerically using a cummercial package. The results show that the rectangular hopes provide better peformance than the cylindrical holes. For the rectangular holes with expanded exit, the penetration is reduced significantly, and the higher and more uniform cooling Peformance is obtained even at relatively high blowing rates.